Account deletion removes your Bellwether account and all associated data from our systems. Published books on retailers are not affected; those are separate accounts. This article covers exactly what gets deleted, what doesn't, the 30-day grace period, and how to reverse things if you change your mind.

Before you delete

Export your data first. Account deletion is permanent after the grace period; recovering data afterward is not possible.

1. Settings → Privacy → Data export → Request export.
2. Wait for the email (usually within 5 minutes, up to an hour for very large accounts).
3. Download the ZIP.
4. Open it and verify it includes your manuscripts, covers, and anything else you care about before proceeding.

See the data export article for what's in the bundle. If you're planning to delete because you're moving to another tool, the export includes Markdown, DOCX, EPUB, and PDF versions of every book, so you can import into almost anything.

Alternatives to deletion

Deletion is permanent. Consider these alternatives first:

• Cancel your subscription. Keeps your data read-only, forever. Reactivate later if you change your mind. See the plans article for what stays accessible.
• Downgrade to Starter. If cost is the concern, Starter is $9/month and keeps your full manuscripts and covers.
• Delete specific books instead. If one manuscript is the problem, delete it individually (Editor → File → Delete book) without closing your account.
• Revoke AI training consent. If privacy is the concern, turn off training under Settings → Privacy. Your data stops contributing to any future model training immediately.
• Clear assistant history. If it's about assistant conversations, delete them all under Settings → Privacy → Your AI data → Delete all conversations.

If none of those addresses your reason, proceed with deletion.

Request deletion

Go to Settings → Privacy → Delete account and click Delete my account.

You'll be asked to confirm with:

• Your password.
• A typed confirmation of the word "DELETE".

This guardrail is intentional. Deletion is permanent.

Before final confirmation, you'll see a summary:

• How many books will be deleted
• The total word count of manuscripts
• How many assistant conversations will be deleted
• How much is in your current billing period (to confirm the refund)

Read the summary, then click Confirm deletion.

The 30-day grace period

After you confirm, your account enters a 30-day grace period:

• You're immediately signed out on all devices.
• You can't sign in with your password during the grace period.
• Your data is not deleted yet. It's marked for deletion and hidden from the app.
• Your subscription is cancelled immediately. You're refunded for the unused portion of your current paid period, prorated to the hour.
• Any active manuscript or cover jobs are stopped.
• Any pending retailer submissions are cancelled (if KDP was still reviewing, Bellwether pulls the submission).

Why 30 days

People change their minds. Loss of access is dramatic, especially after a long break from writing. Thirty days is enough time to realise you want your work back, without leaving orphan data on our systems forever.

Reinstating during grace period

If you change your mind during the 30 days:

1. Email support from the address on your account.
2. Include the fact that you want to reinstate and the deletion date.
3. We reinstate the account in its pre-deletion state.
4. Your subscription does not automatically re-activate; re-subscribe from Billing if you want to keep using AI features.

Reinstatement usually completes within 24 hours.

After 30 days

At the end of the grace period:

• All manuscripts, covers, assistant conversations, and account data are permanently deleted from our systems.
• Deleted data is not recoverable. This is technical, not policy; we don't retain a shadow copy.
• Invoices and payment records are retained for 7 years for tax and accounting purposes. They don't include any content from your books, just transactions (date, amount, plan name).
• Your email address is released and can be used to sign up again in the future if you want. New account, new plan, no carry-over of data.

What stays published on retailers

Deleting Bellwether does not unpublish anything from retailers. Your books remain on:

• Amazon KDP (Kindle and paperback)
• Apple Books
• Kobo
• Google Play Books
• Smashwords
• IngramSpark
• Anywhere else you published

Those are separate accounts. Royalties continue flowing to the bank account you set up on each retailer. Bellwether was the tool you used to format and submit; the published book is in the retailer's system now, not ours.

To actually unpublish a book, you need to do it on each retailer individually. Bellwether's deletion doesn't reach into retailer systems. Before deleting, decide whether you want books to stay published or not, and unpublish on retailers first if not.

What gets deleted

• Account profile, email, password.
• All manuscripts and chapter content.
• All cover designs and saved versions.
• Version history for every book.
• Assistant conversations (full transcripts).
• Notes and comments on chapters.
• Usage history (credit spend logs).
• Personal preferences, pen names, style rules.
• Connected retailer authentication tokens.
• Saved searches and named snapshots.
• Trusted devices and 2FA secrets.

What is not deleted:

• Invoices and payment records (tax retention, 7 years).
• Aggregate, de-identified usage statistics that were generated for product improvement before you opted out (if AI training was ever opted in and never revoked). These are anonymised and can't be traced back to you after deletion.
• Support conversations with you (retained 3 years for audit purposes, separately indexed from your deleted account).

Deleting one book vs deleting your account

If you want to delete a single book without closing your account:

1. Open the book in the editor.
2. File → Delete book.
3. Confirm.

The book is deleted immediately. No grace period. Books deleted individually can't be recovered.

Before deleting a book, run File → Export → Markdown if you want a copy. This is faster than a full account export.

Deleting from retailer vs deleting from Bellwether

Different actions, different systems:

• Unpublishing from a retailer keeps the book in the retailer's system in an inactive state. Readers who bought it keep their copy. Reviews are preserved. You can republish the same book later.
• Deleting from a retailer removes the listing entirely. This is usually not reversible on retailer side.
• Deleting from Bellwether only affects your Bellwether copy. Does not touch retailer listings.

Most authors who want to "pull a book" want to unpublish on the retailer, not delete. Don't rush to Bellwether deletion when unpublishing on the retailer is what you actually want.

Common edge cases

I deleted by mistake and it's been more than 30 days. Data is gone. Sorry, truly. Contact support; we can confirm the deletion happened but we can't undo it.

I want to delete but keep receiving invoices for tax purposes. This happens automatically. Invoices are retained and you can request copies via support. No action needed.

I can't sign in to delete my account because I lost 2FA. Contact support for identity verification (24 to 72 hours). Once back in, you can delete.

A co-author has access to my books. Deleting your account removes your access. If they have their own account with shared access, they retain access to the shared books. Check Editor → File → Collaborators before deleting if this matters; you may need to transfer ownership before closing your account.

I want to delete just my assistant conversations. Under Settings → Privacy → Your AI data there's a Delete all conversations option that's separate from account deletion. It's immediate and irreversible, but doesn't touch your manuscripts.

I want to delete everything but keep the cover for a book I want to hire a new designer for. Export the book individually (Editor → File → Export → Cover PDF). You can still use the exported file after deleting; the file is yours.

I'm being deleted because of a TOS violation. If your account was deleted by Bellwether rather than by you, you should have received an email with the reason. Appeal by replying to that email. Policy-based deletions go through a separate review process; the 30-day grace period may or may not apply depending on the reason.